Lent 23 day 2

 In Heaven.

I decided to Google 'heaven in Judaism' to find out what the disciples might have understood Jesus to be saying when He prayed ' Our Father who is in heaven'.   If you have a spare ten minutes I suggest you go and read the Wikipedia page which gives a concise but mind bending explanation of what the Jewish people believe about heaven,

I suppose we, as Christians, tend to think of heaven as a place where God rules and reigns and where Jesus is seated at His right hand.  We might refer to Revelation and have some notion of angels crying Holy Holy Holy and elders casting their crowns etc.  We might think of a city with streets of gold and pearly gates.   But whatever our concept of heaven, its nothing compared to the complicated, multi-layered, compartmentalised, seven-level version the Jews have.  ( As I think about it I suppose this makes Pauls reference to the third heaven much more understandable.  He grew up in a culture that believed in at least seven realms of heaven. )   The word Jesus uses in the Lords Prayer is ' ouranos' in Greek.  This means both the thing above us which is not earth,  the place where the stars are, the place where God dwells and the place where the souls of the departed go.   


I wonder why it was important for Jesus to give His Father an ' address'.  He could have just started the prayer ' Dear Father God, hallowed be Your name'.  But He didn't.  He located God in heaven. Perhaps He was reminding us that God is not within us.  He is not an idol or an object and He cant be found in the temple or a specific place.  Much of the History of the people of God has been about them finding a place for God to dwell.  In tabernacles and arcs and temples in cities on earth.  But Jesus came to forever end that need to build a physical place to worship God. ' For the time is coming and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him '  John 5:25

Jesus prays all over the place.  He prays in gardens and in people's houses and at gravesides, on the roadside and on the cross.   He must have prayed in the temple and in synagogue as well, but the majority of His recorded prayers are prayed in very ' un-religious' places.  Part of the scandal of Jesus was that He showed people that God could be accessed by everyone everywhere at any time.  No need for buildings or priests or sacrifices.  Long before He ripped the veil of the temple in two He was explaining that God is our Father and that He doesn't live in ' man made holy places' but in heaven.   By His death and resurrection Jesus allowed us access right into that same heaven and the Lord's prayer reminds us of this every time we pray it.

Heaven is a mystery.   I believe it exists and that it is where God and Jesus are and where God's will happens ( thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven)  So it must be a pretty amazing place.  Other than that I really have no idea what it might be like.  Recently I heard some teaching about Paradise being a garden.  That sounds nice.  Whether its a city or a garden or a throne room as long as Jesus is there then I cant wait to get there too.  My Father is in heaven.  Jesus said so.  And privately I really hope the Jews are wrong and that I don't end up in some far flung reaches of the outer circles of heaven straining to see God from the back row whilst more important people like rabbis and Jewish scholars get to sit up front 😁  If I know Jesus He will have reserved the front row for a few beggars, criminals and martyrs.  

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